Eclipse of the Heart
by BrokenBalance22
Summary: Naruto is a war hardened Anbu captain, who regards everyone he encounters with distrust and disdain. His parents have had enough with their son's attitude, so they send him back into his past to learn three lessons from it.Time-Travel.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Eclipse of the Heart

Summary: Naruto is a war hardened Anbu captain, who regards everyone he encounters with distrust and disdain. His parents have had enough with their son's attitude, so they send him back into his past to learn three lessons from it. Naruto, however, doesn't care to participate. How will this affect the future? Time-travel. Slight Au. Non Yaoi. Please R&R.

Genre: Friendship/ hurt-comfort

Rated: T

Pairings: None to speak of at the moment.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does. I do not own the song 'Total Eclipse of the Heart'. I am only inspired by it.

"Once upon a time there was light in my life, but now there's only love in the dark. Nothing I can do a total eclipse of the heart." –Bonnie Tyler

**Chapter One**

Naruto sat at his desk mulling over paperwork. . He sighed as he took another long sip of his sake and glared at the mounted papers before him willing them to combust. He really hated paperwork. There was just no point in it really. At least, that is what he had tried to convince the council of last night. They had turned up their nose at the idea, of course, and here he sat as a direct result. Naruto's frown deepened as he observed a tiny little drop of liquid escape from the mouth of his bottle. He groaned, out of sake already.

"Noboru" (1)

A young man appeared in a puff of smoke before him, kneeling and with a bowed head. Naruto appraised the newly assigned Anbu for a moment, before he shook his empty bottle in the air.

"I'm out" He said dispassionately.

Noboru nodded his head once in acknowledgement before he disappeared the same way he had appeared. Naruto sighed once again as he returned his attention to more 'pressing' matters: paperwork.

0-0-0-0

"Isamu, I told you already. I am not interested in you." A buxom woman stated in annoyance.

"Yui, you wound me yet again. Alas, will I ever get to call you my own?"

Isamu you pig, you say that to every woman you meet. Now stop bothering me, I have an assignment to finish."

Isamu sighed as he watched Yui walk away from him. He smiled wistfully as he turned around and ran straight into an eagle's mask. He heard a startled gasp as the young Anbu fell to his knees in an apologetic manner. He couldn't help but laugh as he took in the startled young man on the ground in front of him.

"My apologies, I didn't see you there. Please forgive me for running into you." Noboru beseeched frantically.

"No need to apologize, kid. It was me who ran into you after all." Isamu said with an amused smile as he held his hand for the kid to take.

"But sir-"He protested.

"So what did you think of Yui? She sure is something else huh, and she is totally into me. Don't mind what you may have seen or heard. Women are complicated, we all know she is just playing hard to get, the tease."

Noboru blinked unsure of what to make about Naruto's second in command. He sure didn't act like a normal Anbu, especially not one in a position of power. He cleared his throat as he went to pick up his mask that had fallen off his face during the run-in. He gazed at the eagle's face that stared back at him before discreetly sneaking a peak at what Isamu's animal of choice was. His jaw dropped.

"Something wrong, Noboru?" Isamu asked in amusement.

"A pig?" He asked in shock before his face heated up. "I'm sorry, I sho-"

Isamu cut him off with a round of boisterous laughter.

Noboru's face heated up even more as he looked away feeling embarrassed.

Isamu took off the pig mask that he had resting on the top of his head. "Yui picked it. She said if I was going to act like a pig, I might as well wear the face of one. I actually kind of like it, though." He said with a smile.

A small smile crept over Noboru's face. He couldn't help but feel at ease in the presence of this odd man. He took in his whole appearance. Isamu stood just over six feet tall and was well built. He had long red hair that he kept in a low ponytail, and mischievous copper eyes. He had a strange 'x' scar above his right eyebrow.

Isamu waited patiently for the teen to size him up. "So why are you here?"

Noboru sighed despite himself. "The captain wants more sake."

Isamu smiled sympathetically. Naruto never had been really good at controlling his emotions, and hadn't exactly hidden his disdain when Noboru had joined the Anbu team. In fact, as Isamu recalled Naruto had bellowed pretty loud that day and had left a huge hole in the wall. No one but Isamu had understood why this child had Naruto in such a bad mood, but he was under direct orders from his captain not to say a word.

"Why doesn't he like me?" The teen asked quietly.

Isamu sighed. "Naruto is just under a lot of stress. You know the council has been riding his butt about his lack of order when it comes to protocol and such."

The teen glanced up at him unconvinced. "It seems to me more of a personal issue than just your average stress."

Isamu smiled. "Well, maybe there is more to the story than I am offering, but you know I am not at liberty to discuss such things."

"Noboru, where is my damn sake?"

Noboru looked at Isamu with a panicked expression as he grabbed the bottle and disappeared. Isamu was left chuckling in his wake as he looked up at the window and slipped his 'pig' mask back onto his face.

0-0-0-0

Noboru handed the bottle to Naruto and waited expectantly for further orders.

"Dismissed." He said in aggravation.

Noboru sighed in relief as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto stared at his new bottle appreciatively before he set it down on his desk with a sigh. "I don't remember giving you permission to enter, Isamu."

Isamu smiled behind his mask. "My deepest apologies, your captainess, shall I go send myself to the retention cell now for a time out?"

Naruto scowled at his sarcasm. "I sure as hell wouldn't mind."

Isamu's grin widened. "Aw, but you will miss me." He said as he jumped down from the window that he had been occupying.

Naruto just snorted.

Isamu's eyes clouded over for a moment. "He just wants to earn your respect, you know. He doesn't really understand why you feel so strongly against him."

Naruto glanced up in surprise at this sudden change in conversation. "What are you talking about?"

Isamu just stared back at him.

Naruto ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "You know it hurts me to look at him." He said quietly. "I just want block everything about the awful day. That stupid war that should have never happened, so much was lost that day. It's been almost nineteen years now since I have spoken to the remaining few of our time. Then here he comes, my own personal ghost come back to haunt me. Every time I look at him I am slapped in the face. He should never have happened, and I will never forgive myself for it. It's why I choose to become an Anbu, you know. It is so much easier to put on a mask and disappear into the shadows. Those who meet me now, meet death. Seems fitting doesn't it?" Naruto said darkly.

Isamu stood there silently as his mind drifted back towards that awful day that had become forever known as 'Mourning Leaf.' It had been perhaps one of the greatest holocausts Konaha had ever born witness too. Sasuke had launched his attack on Konaha that day with Madara playing in his shadow. Isamu had met Naruto on that day. He had remembered the sixteen year old blond had looked at him with a smile and said 'I know you're a chuunin and all, but since I am two years older I get to call the shots ok." Together they had managed to fight their way towards Sasuke, and it was in those moments Naruto had forever changed. They had both joined the Anbu black ops two weeks later, and Naruto was promoted to captain four years later.

"I should probably go pay my respects to them; it has been eight years since my last visit after all." Naruto said sadly causing Isamu to come out of his musings. Naruto sighed as he slipped on a raven's mask. "Paperwork can live without me after all." Where the words that he mumbled before he vanished.

0-0-0-0

Naruto gazed at the obsidian stone in silence. His eyes scanned the names of all the men and women who sacrificed their lives in some way or another for the sake of this village. He remembered his former Sensei used to come here all the time to pay his respects to his fallen comrades and reminisce about his own mistakes. Naruto felt morbidly nostalgic at the thought as his eyes saw in what seemed to be in big, bold print: Kakashi Hatake. "Finally made it onto the stupid stone with your squad ,right, Sensei?"

"N-Naruto?" An astonished female voice asked.

Naruto froze and withdrew within himself. 'Sakura?' Naruto touched the mask to make sure it was still there before turning around to face the woman he had abandoned 19 years ago.

"I, uh, you." Sakura sighed feeling a loss for words at the moment as she stared back at the masked face before her. "It is you right?" She asked softly.

"Hn." Naruto grunted looking down at the ground in shame. He couldn't look at her, not after the way he had walked out on her. Not after what he had left her to deal with.

"It's ok, Naruto. You don't have to say anything. I will just come and pay my respects another day." With that Sakura forced a pleasant smile and left.

Naruto sighed as his shoulders slumped forward. "I really have become a coward, haven't I?" Naruto said to no one in particular as he left.

0-0-0-0

Sakura walked back towards the Hokage tower, her other 'home' so to speak. She sighed as memories flooded her mind.

"_What do you mean you don't want the job?" An enraged Sakura asked the masked blond in front of her._

"_I have discussed this with you already, Sakura. Since you apparently didn't hear me out the first time I will say it again, slowly. I. DON'T. WANT. TO. BE. TSUNADE'S. SUCCESOR. PERIOD. I am not taking the title of the Sixth. I'm sorry." Naruto said coldly._

_Sakura stared in disbelief at him. Ever since she could remember Naruto had been bragging about how he was going to be the greatest Hokage someday, and now that he had the chance. He refused it? Sakura shook her head. "If you're not going to take the job then who is?"_

_Naruto shrugged. "Well, there aren't exactly a lot of survivors left suitable enough for the job. Shikamara is brainy enough, but he has his hands full trying to take care of Asuma's child. Hinata wouldn't stay conscious long enough for the ceremony. Ino would complain that the hat would mess her hair up. As for Lee, well, could you honestly picture his face on that mountain?" Naruto shuddered. _

_Sakura's face paled at the image. _

_Naruto glanced up at her sheepishly. "I guess that only leaves you then."_

_Sakura blinked. "Absolutely not."_

_Naruto looked back at her stubbornly. "Well, you are the best choice having been trained by the former Hokage. I am not taking the job, so it's in your hands now."_

_Sakura's eyes filled with tears. "Naruto, you know I just can't right now." She said in a pleading tone._

_Naruto's eyes filled with pain for a moment before they iced over. "Deal with it." He said as he left._

Sakura hugged herself. It had been the last time she had seen Naruto in 19 years. Tsunade had died one year after the war had ended. She had requested that Naruto be her successor. Naruto told her not to worry he would take care of it right before she died. She looked upon the stone mountain at her carved image. She had been appointed the new Hokage a month later instead.

"Mom, what are you doing walking outside at this hour?" A concerned voice asked.

Sakura glanced up from her musings to see her son rushing over towards her in earnest. "Just getting a little fresh air, I suppose." She smiled at the dark haired teen in front of her. He had grown up to become a fine young man. He even had the same dark, handsome, cold, features of his father, of Sasuke. 'Sasuke.'

"_Stop right there Sasuke, I cannot allow you to go any further than this." Sakura stated as she held a kunai in front of her in both an offensive and defensive posture._

_Sasuke's red eyes stared at her amused."What? No tear filled speeches this time? You disappoint me, Sakura. "_

_Sakura's eyes hardened as she felt her heart break. "What no speech about being an avenger? It seems we have both softened over the years."_

_Sasuke smiled a twisted, malevolent smile. "Hn. I guess so. I am in a generous mood today, though. Perhaps I should fulfill your once childish desires before I kill you."_

_Sakura took a step backwards suddenly in terror as his eyes began to change._

"Mom?"

Sakura snapped out of her past as she smiled at the teen in front of her. "Don't worry, Noboru. I'm fine."

Noboru looked at her unconvinced, but decided to leave the subject alone for now.

o-o-o

Naruto entered his apartment and threw himself onto his bed as he tried to escape the memories that were plaguing him. He found the bed completely useless at suppressing them and turned towards his liquor cabinet for solace, only to find it didn't help either. He growled in frustration as he threw the bottle across the room. "I should have killed him sooner, and then maybe you wouldn't have suffered. They would all still be alive. I failed everyone." He said as he put his head down onto his knees.

"Naruto."

Naruto glanced up in confusion. "Mom?"

Kushina smiled. "Yes son, it's me."

Naruto frowned wondering how much he had drank before he broke that bottle. "Where's dad?" He chose to ask in case this was real or whatever.

Kushina frowned. "He couldn't make it. I was the only one allowed to enter the world of the living for a moment." Her expression softened. "My how you have grown since the last time I saw you."

Naruto blushed slightly and turned away from her stare. "Mom, why are you here?"

"Your father and I are concerned about you. We feel like you have given up on life. That you allowed a part of yourself to die a long time ago."

Naruto sighed. "Why did you choose to show up now?

Kushina smiled a humorless smile. "We were hoping that you would grow out of it eventually. When you never did… well it takes time to cross over into a new realm also."

Naruto glanced up into his mother's face. It was just as beautiful as he remembered it to be. "Well mom, no offense, but unless you can turn back time there isn't much you can do for me."

Kushina smiled as she caressed her son's cheek. "Relax. Take a deep breath. When you wake up don't panic, you will be exactly where you are supposed to be. Think of this as a gift, and a lesson to be learned, three to be exact. I hope you will find peace again."

Naruto's eyelids grew heavy as he tried to fight off the sleep that suddenly was trying to overpower him as his world suddenly turned black.

**-End-**

A/n: I would like to welcome you to my maiden story. This is the first fanfiction, I have ever attempted my hand at, and I hope you guys will come to enjoy it. Yes, I knew it's an over-used plot, but I hope that I can introduce some of my own twists to make it fresh. I really don't have anything else to say. Please review if you liked my story. Also review if you see something that is incorrect, I am all ears.

Noboru: **ascend; climb; virtuous**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"_When you wake up don't panic. You are exactly where you are supposed to be."_

Naruto felt like he was falling into darkness. He wasn't aware of anything in this void, only the feeling of falling. Time seemed to slow and then come to a stop. He could hear his heart beating inside his chest. The darkness crumbled around him, shattering the illusion like glass. Memories filled his mind's eye, as he literally saw his whole life flash before him. He saw from the moment he was born to the present, and it was in those flashes, he saw his failures. Like a bad song that is stuck in your head, his failures kept replaying, reminding him of what he had tried to bury, to forget. Resisting the images, he shut his eyes, and then a bright light engulfed him causing his consciousness to fade.

"Naruto? Naruto, can you hear me?"

Naruto frowned as his senses slowly returned to him one by one. The first thing that he was aware of was the fact that he was surrounded by people. The second thing he became aware of was the smell of sanitizer and bleach. Naruto groaned as he realized that he was probably in a hospital, his least favorite place. The concerned voice spoke to him again, asking if he was ok. Naruto wanted to laugh at the absurdity of such a question, of course he wasn't ok. He was far from it.

"Is he going to wake up anytime soon?" The worried voice asked the young nurse who was standing in the room.

The nurse's face became perplexed as she glanced over her clipboard. "I-I am not sure, really. We can't really explain the reason why he is unconscious in the first place. "

"What do you mean 'you're not sure?' This is a hospital isn't it? Shouldn't you know something by now?" The voice asked sounding slightly frustrated.

The nurse recoiled as she placed the clipboard under her arm. "Well, you're his teacher, aren't you? Perhaps you know more about the situation than you let on." She said as she strolled out of the room in a huff.

Naruto frowned as he opened his eyes and the image of a scowling Iruka filled his vision. "I-Iruka?" He asked hesitantly, momentarily questioning his grip on reality.

Iruka whirled around at the sound of his student, relief flooding his face. "Naruto, you're finally awake."

Naruto blinked feeling confused. "What do you mean by 'finally awake'? How long have I been out? Where am I, and what day is it?"

Iruka sat down in the chair by Naruto's hospital bed and stared at his student carefully. "Naruto, what is the last thing you remember?"

Naruto's eyes widened slightly as he thought back to the previous night.

"_When you wake up. Don't panic. You are exactly where you are supposed to be."_

He sighed not sure where exactly he was. He looked at Iruka sheepishly. "I asked you first." He said in hopes that Iruka would tip him off in some way.

Iruka sighed as he proceeded to answer Naruto's questions. "You're in the hospital, obviously. I brought you in here three days ago after you passed out. Today is the day before team assignments are given. You woke up just in time for that I guess."

Naruto leaned back against his pillow, his mind racing through long forgotten and suppressed memories. 'The day before team assignments are given. So does that make me a genin again? Why would my mom send me to this point in my life?'

"Naruto, now it is your turn to answer my question." Iruka stated snapping Naruto out of his thoughts.

Naruto started not really sure what to tell Iruka. The events from this point in his life where really hazy to him, and he couldn't get a clear grip on his memories long enough to give a valid story. He remembered bits and pieces of the night of his graduation exam, but nothing to solid. He glanced up at Iruka and sighed. "I remember failing the genin exam again. I remember Mizuki telling me about being the container for the fox, and I remember learning to make shadow clones and you passing me." He looked at Iruka, hoping the story was close enough.

Iruka nodded slowly. "Is that all you remember?"

Naruto frowned as he racked his memory harder. Had something else major happen that he didn't remember? He shook his head and said. "Sorry that is it."

Iruka stared at his student with concern in his eyes. "You gave me quite a scare back there, Naruto. I had asked if you wanted to go eat ramen to celebrate you promotion, when all of the sudden your eyes rolled into the back of your head and you fell into seizures. I had no idea what was wrong so I sent word to the hospital requesting aid."

Naruto stared at him feeling a little embarrassed, though he wasn't sure why.

Iruka was about to say something else when the nurse bustled into the room. "Oh! Naruto, you're awake. How are you feeling?"

"I feel fine, actually. Can I leave today?" Naruto said hoping he would be released willingly so he didn't have to use unnecessary methods to guarantee his release.

The nurse looked at Naruto thoughtfully. "Well, the doctor actually wanted to keep you another day for observation…."

"I told you that I feel fine, that is no need for me to stay here any longer." Naruto said in a voice that commanded submission as his eyes bore into hers.

The nurse stepped back, feeling confused from the vibe that he was putting off. "R-right. I, uh, will see what I can do." She said as she walked out of the room timidly.

Iruka stared at his student unsure of what had just taken place, but before he could ask the Hokage stepped in.

"Ah Naruto, your awake I see. How are you feeling?"

Naruto inwardly scowled, already hating all of this unnecessary attention he was getting. He tried his best to smile and answer, though. "I am feeling fine, uh….old man?" Naruto stared at the Hokage hoping he had at least gotten the nickname right or whatever. A part of his brain realized with some dark amusement, that seeing all of these ghosts should have him in shock right now. He sighed. He was in the past, talking to the dead, was on the bottom of the power scale, and his only reaction to all of this was annoyance.

The Hokage smiled. "Well, that is good to hear. I hear that you have finally passed the genin exam as well as helped apprehend a potential threat to the village. That is quite an impressive night you had."

Naruto forced a smile onto his face.

The Hokage turned his attention away from Naruto as he strolled towards the door. "I am sure you will make a splendid shinobi." He stopped for a moment in the doorway and then added as if it was an over thought. "Oh, and by that way Naruto, you might want to be more careful with how you dry your clothes in the future. It appears as if your outfit has shrunk." He concluded as he left the room.

Naruto blinked as he gazed down at his shirt and boxers. He frowned as he noticed that they were definitely a little too small for him, but before he could wonder why the nurse walked in.

"Alright Naruto, you have been approved for release.

o-o-o

Naruto sighed in relied as he left the hospital with Iruka. Iruka had initially made a huge fuss over him, which he quickly put to a stop as gently as he could. Naruto might have become a hardened shinobi towards every else around him, but he found it nearly impossible to do so with Iruka. The man had been there for him, after all, and was the first person to ever acknowledge him. That at least warranted the man some respect.

"Naruto, where are you going?" Iruka asked as he noticed Naruto heading towards town instead of his apartment.

Naruto stopped and glanced up at Iruka as if it should have been obvious. "To buy some new clothes."

Iruka looked at Naruto's outfit, noticing just how snug the jumpsuit looked on him. He scratched the back of his head. "Well, maybe it is just that outfit that shrunk. Wouldn't it be better to just go home and put on another outfit instead?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment, seeing the logic in his words. He sighed as he glanced at his suit. He actually had a small suspicion that he was taller than he used to be. He could he supposed humor his teacher, or he could go with his gut and buy some new clothes. He decided to go with the later. After all, he wasn't the same child he once was; therefore, a new outfit was a must. "That's ok Iruka Sensei. I actually think I shrunk all of my clothes, so I believe it is best to pick up some new ones." He grinned hoping Iruka would accept the story.

Iruka frowned. "Naruto, you shrunk ALL of your clothes?" He shook his head. "Fine, go into to town. Just be careful all right."

Naruto smiled as he strolled into town. "Always." He said over his shoulder.

o-o-o

Naruto stepped out of the shop feeling satisfied with his purchases. His suspicions had been confirmed, when the man gave him his usual size and it didn't fit him. The store owner had looked surprised, but remeasured him, just to discover he had grown by several inches.

The store owner looked even more surprised when he picked a different outfit, instead of his usual number. His new outfit was a little but more simple, but he had placed a strip of orange on there so no one would get too suspicious or raise to many questions. He sighed as he reached his old apartment. He found the spare key hidden under the mat.

He opened the door and glanced around the room feeling slightly nostalgic. The floors were covered in empty ramen cups, clothes, and scrolls. The bed was unmade and had random bits of clothing on top of it. The table had a spoiled milk carton as well as other unrecognizable food mixtures. He turned his nose away, as the smell of old food hit him. He sighed as he created a few clones to help clean up this mess, while he found an unused scroll.

The clones gave a quick salute as they proceeded to clean and bring order to his humble abode. Naruto sat down at his desk, tuning out what was going on in the background. He opened his scroll and proceeded to write his thoughts out onto it.

**Captain's Log one.**

**It appears as if I am stuck twenty-three years in my own past. I have already graduated it seems, so that saves me the trouble of explaining a few things. I will treat this as a mission, nothing more nothing less. Once I have completed my objective I should hopefully be allowed to return to the present,er, future. Mom said she wants me to learn three lessons from my own past. The faster I learn them the faster I can get away from this hell. I am assuming since I am physically different from my younger self that the past isn't a script that I have to stick to. I will dwell on this thought later. Until then I guess.**

**Captain's Log Out.**

Naruto placed his writing utensil down as he proceeded to place seals on the scroll and put it in a safe place. He didn't want to risk any one finding this, after all. He glanced around his now clean apartment. He glanced out of his window noticing that the day was drawing towards an end. "Well, I guess I should go to sleep then."

o-o-o

Naruto awoke with a start, the dreams from the night still fresh in his subconscious. He wasn't sure why the dream had bothered him so much, if anything the dream should have brought a sense of satisfaction instead of the unease that plagued him. He glanced at the clock noting what time it was. He knew today was the day that team assignments were going to be given.

Naruto ran a hand through his hair, not really sure how he felt about seeing his old team again. He glanced out at the rising sun, wondering if he had the control to not strangle Sasuke on sight. He groaned as he fell back onto his bed, as the dream reared its ugly head.

He shoved the dream aside. He couldn't kill Sasuke right now, even if he wanted to, the repercussions would be horrendous, if he acted prematurely. On the other hand, waiting to long could create the future all over again. He sighed as he thought of Sakura and Kakashi, they had no idea that today they would trust their lives over to the one who betrayed them. Naruto slammed his fist into the wall feeling annoyed about not being able to pinch the brat out forever.

He stared at the dent he had just created in his wall. He sighed as he walked away from it and decided to get ready for the new day. He couldn't do anything today, but that didn't mean he would pass up the opportunity to make it look like an unfortunate accident if he could. Naruto smiled finding comfort in that thought as he started to get ready for the day.

**-End-**

A/N:

I would like to thank the people who have read and reviewed my story. Your support is appreciated :)

I would like to clear up a few things though.

No, Sakura did not 'allow' Sasuke to rape her. He just did. I will explain more about this in later chapters. I am just clarifying that she didn't just willingly let him do it.

I hope you all enjoyed my latest chapter and please don't forget to review. I hope it wasn't to boring, I had to do a filler chapter to help set up the next chapter after all.

**REVIEW PLEASE :) **


	3. Chapter 3

"Things aren't the way they were before. You wouldn't even recognize me anymore. Not that you knew me back then, but it all comes back to me in the end. What it meant to me will eventually be a memory of a time, when I tried so hard and got so far. In the end it doesn't even matter." –Linkin Park

**Chapter Three**

Naruto stared at his reflection in the mirror with a sense of satisfaction. He was wearing his new outfit, and he was definitely pleased with the new look. His outfit consisted of a simple pair of khaki colored shinobi pants, a black, sleeveless, turtleneck shirt with a thin orange strip that went vertically down his right side, a pair of black shinobi sandals, and a black headband, similar to his old one. He also had black bandages from his elbows to his wrist.

He glanced at the clock again. "I guess I better get to class then."

oOoOoOo

"Sakura, honey, are you leaving for the academy so soon?"

"Yes, mom," Sakura said as she started to close the door behind her.

"Alright, well, good luck with your team assignments today," Her mother said warmly.

Sakura smiled as she closed the door to her house and then tightened her new headband, securing it into place. She pumped her fist into the air and let out a small battle cry.

"Alright, today is the day that I, Sakura Haruno, will be placed on a team with my one true love!"

"As if, bill board brow, the only one getting on Sasuke's team is me."

Sakura whirled around in fury as her gazed rested upon her ex best friend, Ino Yamanaka. "What was that, Ino-pig?"

Ino scoffed as she flipped her hair behind her back. "What's wrong, bill board? Can't stand the fact that you will have to watch me leave on Sasuke's team today?"

Sakura crossed her arms and jerked her head to the side. "Only in your dreams, Ino-PIG"

Ino's eye twitched. "Did you say something, BILL BOARD BROW?"

The two glared at each other.

"Ladies, are you interested in having your fortunes told?"

Sakura and Ino jumped at the sound of the little old woman that was smiling at them from the side of the road.

"I know how we will settle this one, Bill Board. Let's just ask her to tell us whose teams we will be on," Ino suggested.

"Get ready to weep, Ino." Sakura said as they walked towards the smiling woman.

"May I see your palm please," the woman said with a smile.

Sakura and Ino glanced at each other nervously before showing the woman their palms.

The woman took both of their hands and gazed at them intently. "Ah, yes, very interesting indeed," She said cryptically.

"W-what is? What is interesting," Sakura blurted out.

The woman still smiling looked up at them. "First the blonde, I foresee many things in your immediate future. I see three men who will become very dear to you. You will not see it at first, but in time your true strength will blossom through them."

Ino frowned unsure of what the strange woman meant.

"And now you, dear," The woman said as she turned her attention towards Sakura. "I too see many things in your immediate future. I see three legends, all very different and yet the same. You will be blind to the truth that lies before you, but you're heart will see the truth before you even become aware of what it is."

Sakura stared at the woman in confusion. "Well, uh, thanks for the message. I think."

Ino and Sakura turned around and headed towards the academy.

"What do you think she meant by that," Sakura whispered nervously.

"I don't know." Ino scowled. "But I will tell you one thing I do know. You are NOT going to be on Sasuke's team."

Sakura scowled as she raced her ex friend back to the academy.

oOoOoOo

Hinata sighed as she glanced at the doorway. She knew it was silly to do so, but a part of her hoped that any minute now Naruto would walk in and announce he had passed his graduation test after all. She had dreamed all year of being placed on a team with him. Iruka had smashed that dream yesterday, though. Hinata just couldn't understand it. Naruto, of all people, deserved a break. He had worked so hard to get to this point, after all.

Naruto strolled in the door with a bored expression on his face as he quickly scanned the room.

Hinato gasped when she spotted him, her face already heating up with embarrassment.

'Naruto? Is it really him? Does that mean that he passed, after all? How? Oh No! He is looking at me. Um what should I do," She thought to herself as she bashfully twiddled her fingers and glanced down at her lap.

Naruto finished his scan of the room as his gaze rested upon Hinata. He smirked as he saw her face turning a new shade of red. 'Same old Hinata,' He thought in amusement.

Naruto walked over towards the empty seat that was beside her. He didn't want to give her a heart attack. He just simply wanted to avoid the bastard that was sitting up front.

Naruto took his seat beside the blushing Hyuuga. He turned towards her with a casual smile on his face. "Hey, Hinata, how's it going?"

Hinata's eyes widened as her heart raced. 'He is sitting by me. He is sitting by me.'

"I-I am uh f-fine um, N-Naruto. H-how are y-you?"

Naruto smiled at her.

She blushed deeper and forgot to breathe. Naruto's eyes widened in shock as she suddenly hit the desk out cold. Naruto shook his head with a chuckle as he realized what had just happened.

"Naruto, what the Hell did you do to her," Kiba asked as he rushed over towards Hinata's side.

Naruto just shrugged as he stared at the chalkboard.

Kiba growled at Naruto as he tried to wake the young heiress up.

"Damnit Naruto, you really know how to make a scene," Kiba said as he got up into Naruto's face.

Naruto just glared back at him. "The only one making a scene here is you."

Kiba frowned. "Why are you here anyway? Only those that passed are supposed to be here."

Naruto simply tapped his headband as he looked at Kiba with a bored expression.

Kiba scowled as he noticed the headband that was tied around Naruto's head.

Hinata started mumbling incoherently as she stirred beside them.

Kiba shot one last dirty look at Naruto, before he returned his attention back towards Hinata.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. 'I wonder if Kiba likes Hinata?'

He was interrupted from his musings by a loud yell that was in the front of the classroom.

"Move your ass, Tobio (1)! I want to sit on the other side of you," Sakura screamed in irritation.

Tobio growled as he moved to the seat in front of Sasuke.

"Sasuke, can I sit next to you," Sakura said sweetly as she sat in the seat next to him with a big grin on her face.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and pretended she wasn't even there.

Naruto turned his head away already disgusted with what he was seeing.

"Does that girl even realize the scene she is making?"

Naruto glanced around the room and noticed that all of the girls were shooting daggers at Sakura, while all the guys were smirking at Sasuke.

Naruto shook his head in response to Shino's statement.

The usually stoic Aburame raised an eyebrow at this.

'Today I'm going to get Sasuke.' Sakura thought with a blush on her face.

'I'm also going to steal his first kiss, CHA!' Her inner self roared.

Iruka entered the classroom with a huge smile on his face.

"Beginning today all of you are real ninjas, but you are still merely rookie 'genin'. The hard part has just started. Now you will soon be assigned duties by the village. So today we will be creating the three man teams, and each of you will be assigned a jounin sensei. You will follow that sensei's instructions as you complete the assigned duties. We tried to balance each team's strengths," Iruka concluded as he took out his clipboard.

"WHAT?," Everyone in the class shouted.

Iruka smiled, unperturbed, as he announced the new teams. "Next, team seven will be Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki. Your jounin instructor will be Kakashi Hatake."

Iruka glanced up half surprised that he didn't hear Naruto start screaming about something.

Sakura jumped up out of her seat with joy. 'I am on Sasuke's team, Hell yeah!'

She stopped in mid-cheer to turn around and look at Naruto. "W-what a minute, Sensei, I thought Naruto failed the genin exams yesterday."

Iruka smiled sheepishly. "He failed the initial test, yes, but he passed another test that was approved by the Hokage himself."

Sakura blinked and looked at Naruto in surprise with the rest of the class.

Naruto scowled at them.

Iruka smiled at his favorite student before he finished assigning the rest of the teams. Iruka then put his clipboard down as he looked at his students. "Ok, this afternoon we will be introducing the jounin senseis. Take a break until then."

oOoOoOo

Sakura sat on a bench outside of the school with a dejected look on her face. Sasuke had barely even acknowledged her presence today, and she was so sure that he would once he had heard that they had been placed on the same team and all.

'Even if I go after him using only looks…my breasts and my butt are below average. The only thing above average is my forehead. I hate my forehead. How can I-' (**starts daydreaming**) (2)

She glanced up from her musings to look at Sasuke who was standing in front of a tree.

She blushed. 'He's looking right at me and with warm eyes too. It feels like he is looking into my heart.'

Sasuke walked over towards her. "You have a large charming forehead. Makes me want to kiss it."

"That's what it is for," Sakura said happily. (**daydream end)**

Sakura sighed as she snapped out of her daydream. 'Geez. I am not a little kid believing in fairy tales anymore. Like that would ever happen.'

oOoOoOo

Sasuke walked towards the academy with his hands casually in his pockets. 'So I have been placed on a team with two losers.' Sasuke thought to himself calmly. "Tchh and Iruka Sensei said that they tried to balance each team's strengths, as far as, I'm concerned I'm the only one that's carrying all the weight.'

He kicked a rock in frustration as he spotted Sakura. "It's time to go where's Naruto?"

Sakura stared at her one true love, feeling slightly dejected that he hadn't said anything kind to her yet. She scowled feeling annoyed that Sasuke cared more about where Naruto was than getting to know her better.

"Who cares about Naruto. All he does is gets into fights with you. Well, he hasn't had a normal childhood. He doesn't have any parents."

Sasuke stopped in mid-stride.

"He can do whatever he wants. If I acted like him my parents would get so mad at me."

'Sakura,' Sasuke thought as he narrowed his eyes at her.

"He's so lucky all alone, parents never getting on his case. That's why he misbehaves so much," Sakura concluded smugly.

"All alone…" Sasuke said to himself thoughtfully.

Sakura looked at Sasuke in confusion.

"The sadness of having a parent yell at you is nowhere near what he feels," Sasuke said as he stared at Sakura. "Sakura, you're annoying."

Sakura felt a chill run down her spine as Sasuke turned his back on her and started walking towards the academy. Sakura hung her head in shame as she took a seat on the bench.

Naruto watched the scene impassively as he put away his kunai and headed towards the academy.

'Sakura, you're annoying.' Sasuke's words echoed in her mind. She hugged her knees sadly. "I wonder if this is how Naruto feels. Maybe next time I can be a little nicer to him," She said to herself with a sad smile on her face.

oOoOoOo

"Where is our Sensei? All of the other teams have left already. Is he even aware that we are waiting on him," Sakura grumbled to herself.

Sasuke silently agreed as he opened his eyes to glance up at the clock.

"Naruto, why don't you look annoyed?" Sakura said as she walked over towards the blond.

Naruto glanced up at her innocently. "I'm sure our Sensei has a good reason for being so late."

Sakura frowned. "Like what?"

Naruto shrugged. "Perhaps he had to help a little old lady cross the street, or maybe he got lost on the path of life."

Sakura's eye twitched as Sasuke snorted. "I doubt our Sensei is keeping us detained over such nonsense," Sasuke said.

"Ya, Naruto, use your brain for once," Sakura said condescendingly just as Kakashi poked his head into the doorway.

"Hey, guys, sorry I'm late. I got lost on the path of life."

Sakura and Sasuke's eye twitched as they turned around and shot Naruto an accusing glare as if he had planned that.

Naruto just smiled at them.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head not really sure what he was witnessing. "Alright, meet me up on the roof," He said as he poofed away.

Naruto glanced at his 'new' teammates. He felt slightly annoyed that he couldn't just disappear the way Kakashi had without them raising to many questions. He sighed as he fell in stride beside them.

Sakura frowned as she got a good look at Naruto. "Eh? Naruto, when did you get taller than me?"

Naruto blinked as he stared at Sakura who was smaller than him now by a few inches. "What are you talking about, Sakura. I have always been this tall."

She stopped as her face twitched. 'No, he hasn't. Has he?'

oOoOoOo

"Ok, let's begin with introductions," Kakashi said with a smile.

"What do you want to know," Sakura asked.

Kakashi cocked an eyebrow. "How about you likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, hobbies, stuff like that."

"How about you go first," Sakura suggested.

"Oh! Me? My name is Kakashi Hatake. I have no desire to tell you guys about my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future…? Hmmmm. Well, I have lots of hobbies," He said dryly.

"So all we learned was his name," Sakura informed Naruto and Sasuke with an annoyed expression.

"Now, it's your turn from right to left," Kakashi prompted.

Sasuke scowled. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are tons of things I dislike, and I don't really like anything. I don't want to use the word 'dream', but I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and to kill a certain someone."

'Cool,' Sakura thought with a blush.

'I thought so," Kakashi thought not in the least bit surprised.

Naruto closed his eyes and repressed the urge to kill something.

"Ok, how about the girl next."

Sakura blushed as she glanced at Sasuke. "My name is Sakura Haruno, the thing I like is…Well the person I like is… Should I say my dreams for the future? Oh MY!" She squealed before her expression turned sour as she glanced at Naruto. "The thing I dislike is NARUTO! My hobby is…" She glanced back at Sasuke with hearts in her eyes.

'Girls at this age are more interested in love than in ninjutsu,' Kakashi thought feeling exasperated with his team already.

"Ok, and how about you," Kakashi said as he pointed a finger at Naruto.

Naruto glanced at Kakashi with a calm expression on his face. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like a lot of things. I dislike more than I like. I don't wish to discuss my dreams for the future, and my hobbies are…"

Kakashi frowned at Naruto before realization struck him. 'So this is Sensei's son.'

"Ok, that's enough of that. We will start our duties tomorrow. First, we are going to do something with just the four of us. We are going to do survival training," Kakashi instructed.

Sakura frowned. "Survival training? Why is our duty training? We did enough of that at the academy."

Kakashi smiled. "I will be your opponent, but this isn't normal survival training." He hung his head and started chuckling.

Sasuke scowled.

"What is so funny, Sensei," Sakura asked feeling equally annoyed.

"No, well, it's just that when you guys here this you are definitely going to flip. Of the twenty-seven graduates only nine will be chosen as genin. The rest will be sent back to the academy. This training is a super difficult with a failure rate of over sixty-six percent," Kakashi said with a hint of dark amusement laced into his words.

Sasuke's scowl deepened as Sakura paled. Naruto just sat there in deep thought.

"Ha! I told you that you will flip," Kakashi said with a smile. "Anyway, tomorrow you will be graded on the training field. Bring all of your shinobi gear. Oh, and skip breakfast or you will throw up. The details can be read on this handout. Don't be late tomorrow."

Naruto smirked at that last statement as he took the offered handout.

"Throw up! Is it that rough?" Sakura screeched as she pulled at her hair.

'But if I fail this. I'll be separated from Sasuke! This is a test of love,' Sakura thought with determination as she clutched the handout tightly.

Sasuke wadded his up into a ball, unconcerned with the test tomorrow. He knew he could pass it easily. He was an Uchiha, after all.

Naruto scowled as he wondered if he should deliberately sabotage the test so that they would be sent back to the academy. He quickly tossed that thought aside not really in the mood to deal with school again. He would have to figure out something for tomorrow, though.

He narrowed his eyes at Sasuke who was getting up to leave.

The look didn't escape Sakura's attention. "Naruto, you idiot, stop staring at Sasuke like that," She screamed as she tried to bash him on the head with her fist.

Naruto inwardly scowled as he caught her fist in mid strike. He stood up to his full height and gazed sternly at Sakura before he threw her hand down.

Sasuke frowned at what he just witnessed as he watched Naruto leave.

Naruto stopped beside Sasuke and stared back at him with an impassive look on his face, before he continued on his path home.

Sasuke's frown deepened as he wondered why Naruto was acting so different today.

Sakura gazed at Naruto wide-eyed. She wasn't sure what was up with him today, but it had left her a little bit confused. She shrugged it off, though and decided that Naruto was just trying to act cool today, because of his new promotion.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she saw that Sasuke was strolling into town with his hands in his pockets.

"Hey, Sasuke, do you want to hang out or something?"

"No," he said flatly.

Sakura deflated a little as she ran after him. "How about tomorrow?"

Kakashi sighed. "I give them three minutes, before they all fail."

**-End-**

**Tobio was the kid who had pushed Naruto into Sasuke for the infamous kiss *gags***

**I know this wasn't a daydream in the canon, just Naruto under a henge. I decided to change it, though. Hope you don't mind to much : O**

a/n:

Another filler chapter, I'm sorry about that. It has to be done I guess, setting up characters into well, character. Although, I am really excited about the next chapter, because I can finally started messing with the canon a little bit *grins mischievously*

I would like to thank everyone who reviewed my story. There seems to be a little bit of hate surrounding my Sakura was raped by Sasuke story. Please listen carefully. Yes, she was raped. No, she didn't allow. Will it happen in this timeline, NO! How did it happen…I kind of left a small spoiler on that one if you reread that scene you would have saw that Sasuke's eyes changed. Meaning he activated that weird genjutsu. I really don't want to spoil future chapters, but I will simply point out that even Kakashi was no match against Itachi's eyes. Now if you will be patient all will be explained surrounding that issue. ^_^

Also surrounding the whole pairings things, who do ya'll want to see together? Small note I am not really a yaoi fan, if you are that's great just not my taste. Do you guys want a pairing or leave it paringless? I will take ya'lls thoughts into consideration.

Alright, thanks a bunches for reading my story and don't forget to review : )

**Review :D**

.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

"Hey guys, good morning," Kakashi greeted with a simple wave of his hand.

"You're late!" Sakura screamed in fury.

Kakashi smiled sheepishly underneath his mask as he pulled out a small clock from his bag and placed it on a stump.

"Ok, it's set for noon. Here are two bells. Your task is to take these from me before then. Those who cannot get a bell from me by noon, get no lunch. I'll not only tie you to one of those stumps, but I'll eat in front of you, too."

'So this is why he told us not to eat…' Sakura and Sasuke thought as their stomachs growled in protest.

Kakashi smiled as he jiggled the bells in front of them. "You only need to get one bell. There are only two, so one of you will definitely be tied to a stump, and the person who doesn't take a bell fails. So at least one of you will be sent back to the academy."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as Sakura paled.

"You can even use your shurikans. You won't succeed unless you come at me with the intention to kill," Kakashi concluded in a bored tone of voice.

"But, you'll be in danger," Sakura protested.

Naruto snorted finding humor in Sakura's words just now.

"We'll start when I say go," Kakashi stated ignoring Sakura's little outburst. Kakashi smiled. "Ok, let's get going, ready, START," Kakashi said as he vanished from sight.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura scattered and hid themselves from plain sight as Kakashi walked towards a section of the training grounds.

"The basics of a ninja are to hide yourselves well," He said as he glanced around and located Sakura's and Sasuke's positions. 'Good they have all hidden well; at least…hmmm I wonder where Naruto is?'

Kakashi shrugged not feeling to worried about them at the moment. He smiled coyly underneath his mask as he pulled out his book 'Icha Icha Paradise'. 'Now to find out what happens next,' he thought to himself with a perverted giggle.

Sasuke frowned as he inspected the book in his Sensei's hand. 'What the Hell? Is he actually reading in the middle of a fight? How insulting. I'll teach him to degrade, Sasuke Uchiha, and live to tell about it.'

Sasuke ran out of the bushes that he had been concealing himself in and charged after Kakashi as he threw a slew of shurikan and kunai.

Kakashi's faced turned into one of shock as the weapons hit him.

Sakura screamed. "Sasuke, what the Hell did you do to our Sensei?"

Sasuke scoffed as he stared at the fallen body of his teacher. "That will teach you to read in the middle of a fight."

Naruto turned his head away from the scene. He knew Kakashi wasn't hurt, but still his teacher lying like that brought back a lot of painful memories.

Sasuke's arrogant smile turned into a frown as he felt a presence behind him. Sasuke turned around wide eyed as he looked into the impassive face of his teacher.

"That was good, Sasuke, but not good enough."

Sasuke heard the familiar 'poof' sound. He cursed underneath his breath as he realized it was just a clone that he had hit. Damn his carelessness.

Kakashi smiled underneath his mask as he gazed upon the fuming Uchiha. "It seems like I will have to teach you the basics, then. Ninja fighting lesson number one: Taijutsu."

Sasuke snarled. "I already know taijutsu," He screamed as he started to hit Kakashi with a series of kicks and punches.

Kakashi blocked each one of them effortlessly as he returned his attention back to the book he was reading.

oOoOoOo

Sakura watched the scene in horror. She had never realized how strong a jounin really was. But seeing how Sasuke wasn't even getting a slight edge on him, proved just how scary Kakashi's strength was.

Naruto sighed as he watched Sasuke's pathetic attempts to hit his teacher. He knew what the outcome of this was going to be. A movement below him caught his attention. 'Sakura,' he thought to himself dryly as he watched her run towards Kakashi. He sighed.

Sakura ran through the foliage with a racing heart. 'Sasuke, where could you be? Could Sensei have already…? No! Not Sasuke that would never happen to him.' She gasped as she dove into a bush. 'Phew, he didn't notice me,' she thought to herself in relief as she gazed at where her Sensei was standing.

"Sakura, behind you."

Sakura felt her heat stop as she shakily turned around to gaze at her Sensei's face.

Kakashi brought his hands together to form a seal and then vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Sakura swayed slightly as the effects of the genjutsu started to take place.

"Huh, what was that? What's going on where is Sensei," She screeched frantically as she looked around her.

"Sakura," a voice called out to her weakly.

'That voice,' Sakura thought to herself excitedly as she turned around and then gasped.

"Sakura, help me…" A bloodied and mangled Sasuke croaked before he hit the ground with a thud.

Sakura started hyperventilating as she felt the tears well up. "Sasuke!," she screamed before she feinted.

oOoOoOo

Sasuke whirled around as he heard the scream. "That was Sakura."

The Kakashi he was fighting smiled. "Shinobi fighting lesson number two: Genjutsu. Sakura easily fell for it."

"Genjutsu, Sakura would fall for something like that, but I'm not that easy to fool."

Kakashi glanced up from his book for a moment. "Say that after you get a bell."

Sasuke scowled. "I will teach you not to underestimate me," He screamed as he ran through a series of seals.

"Goukakyuu no jutsu," He screamed as he inhaled sharply.

Kakashi's eyes widened in shock. "What? A genin shouldn't have enough chakra to be able to use that jutsu!"

Sasuke exhaled as a ball of fire shot out of his mouth incinerating everything in its path. Sasuke frowned as the flames died out. 'Where are you, Kakashi Sensei? Hmmmm. To the side? No. Above? Where?'

"Below you."

Sasuke's eyes widened as he felt a hand clamp down upon his ankle.

"Doton! Shinjuu Zanshu no jutsu."

Sasuke screamed in protest as he felt his body get sucked into the ground.

"Ninja fighting lesson number three: Ninjustu. Well, you're already heads above the others in this area," Kakakashi said with a smirk.

Sasuke scowled at his teacher as he tried to free himself from the ground.

"But hey, they say an exposed nail should be hammered in hahaha…." Kakashi said with a chuckle as he walked away from the scowling Uchiha.

"Damn you," Sasuke cursed.

Sasuke frowned as he watched his teacher walk away laughing. 'Damn, there is that large of a difference between us.'

oOoOoOo

Sakura stirred uneasily as her eyes slowly opened to gaze upon the stern face of her teammate Naruto.

"What happened," she asked groggily before her eyes widened and she shot up in a panic. 'Oh, yeah, Sasuke was near death and I saw that and…' Her eyes welled up with tears. "Sasuke, don't die and leave me behind! Where are you?"

Naruto growled as he slapped her across the face.

Sakura gasped as she touched her cheek. "Naruto, why the Hell did you just slap me for?" She screamed indignantly.

Naruto slapped her again. "Shut up, Sakura."

Sakura gasped feeling stunned that the dead last of the class was treating her like she was a child.

Naruto closed his eyes and shook his head. "I swear, Sakura. You should be ashamed of yourself, falling for such an obvious illusion."

Sakura's eyes widened. "So you mean..that what I saw was just a gentutsu?"

Naruto frowned as he watched the slow smile creep across her face.

"I knew Sasuke wouldn't die on me so easily," She squealed as she jumped up in victory.

Naruto groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose."Look Sakura, we aren't strong enough to get a bell by ourselves…"

Sakura stopped cheering for a moment to look at Naruto in confusion.

He sighed as he stared at something in the background. "But if we were to work together than maybe we would stand a better chance…"

Sakura frowned. "So that's what this is all about," she said bitterly.

Naruto cocked an eyebrow wondering why she was getting so pissed all of the sudden.

"You want us to pass and Sasuke to fail, don't you? That's why you have come to me suggesting that we work together. It's so that you're guaranteed to pass with me and Sasuke would get sent back to the acada-"

She gasped as she was pushed back into a tree with a kunai cutting slightly into her throat.

"Sakura, you're annoying," Naruto stated coldly as he put the weapon back into his pouch.

Sakura rubbed her neck as she looked at Naruto in surprise. She hadn't even seen him take out the weapon much less move. When had he become so fast?

Naruto shook his head in disgust. "Sakura, your one of the brightest in the class, but you have failed to see the obvious."

Sakura frowned as she opened her mouth to protest.

Naruto never gave her a chance to as he continued talking. "Have you ever seen a two man team?"

Sakura eyes widened as she closed her mouth.

"Of course you haven't, it's because they don't exist, if one of us fails then we all fail."

Sakura frowned. "But Kakashi Sensei said…"

Naruto shook his head. "Sakura, think about this logically for a second. We are nothing but rookies and our opponent is a seasoned jounin. Do you honestly think we ever stood a chance?

Sakura scratched her head. "Then why are there only two bells?"

Naruto chuckled. "It is because Kakashi is trying to intentionally turn us against each other. He knew that if he offered us an all or nothing solution, we would go after him with our own intentions in mind."

Sakura frowned as she failed to see where Naruto was going with this.

Naruto scowled. "Teamwork, Sakura. The whole point of this test was to see if we would stand together or turn on each other."

Sakura gasped. How could she have missed something so obvious? A better question would be how did the class idiot realize this before she or even Sasuke had? Sakura glanced over to where Kakashi and Sasuke had been fighting. "So then what do we do next, then?"

Naruto smiled. "We do the unexpected."

Sakura frowned. "But what about Sas-"

"I will take care of him, Sakura," Naruto snapped.

Sakura nodded her head slowly. "Alright, then what is the plan?"

Naruto smiled.

oOoOoOo

Kakashi stood in the middle of the training grounds with his beloved book in his hands. He glanced up from it for a moment to scan the perimeter. 'I wonder why Naruto hasn't come after me yet. Perhaps he has pissed his pants and ran home.'

Kakashi felt a presence move behind him. He turned around and was greeted with a pair of calm emerald eyes. "Well hello, Sakura, I see the genjutsu has finally worn off," he said good naturedly.

The alarm went off. Kakashi glanced at it in surprise to see that Naruto had set it off intentionally.

"So there you are, Naruto, and here I was thinking you had done pissed on yourself."

Naruto smiled. "Test is over, Kakashi Sensei."

Kakashi cocked an eyebrow as Sakura walked beside Naruto and stood beside him.

"You know all three of you failed to retrieve a bell, right. That means you all fail."

Sakura nodded her head slowly. "That's right, so I guess that means you're going to have to tie all of us to the tree stumps now."

Kakashi frowned as he went to go and retrieve Sasuke out of the ground.

oOoOoOo

Kakashi's frown deepened as he opened up his bento box and stared at the three genin who were each tied to the stumps in front of him.

"Naruto, you idiot! Why did you end the test early and get us tied to these stumps," the Uchiha protested loudly.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head as he wondered what Naruto and Sakura were up to.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "It's simple, Sasuke. If we are going to fail, then we will do it together as a team, right Sakura?"

Sakura nodded her head as she gazed stubbornly at their teacher. "Right."

Kakashi smiled underneath his mask. Perhaps two of them weren't as stupid as he had originally thought.

Sasuke scowled. "Naruto, you didn't do anything to even get a bell. What gives you the right to determine my fate? And Sakura, you're no better allowing Naruto to fail you as well."

Sakura hung her head in shame as she thought about what Naruto had told her back in the clearing.

Kakashi glanced at Sakura cautiously as he wondered if Sasuke's words were going to change her mind.

"I didn't let Naruto fail me," she whispered softly. "I chose to stand beside him and fail with him. Sasuke, please. You can't win against a jounin, you tried remember. Naruto and I realized that if you couldn't even beat him then we didn't stand a chance."

Sasuke frowned as he stared at the ground.

"Sasuke, I don't like you," Naruto stated bluntly. "But Sakura is right. We never stood a chance against Kakashi Sensei. If you would let go of that pride for one second then you would see that as well."

Sasuke's eyes shot up as he glared at Naruto. "Shut-up, Naruto. What do you care? You would just rather give up and return to the academy then even try to beat him. I guess that is expected from the dead last, though."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. He really wanted to give Sasuke a much needed punch in the face right now. "Sasuke, not every battle is won with brute force. Now you can stand with us or stand alone, but I warn you standing alone won't get you the power that you seek."

Sasuke's eyes widened for a second as he hung his head.

Kakashi stared at his students expectantly. "Well, Sasuke, what is it going to be?"

Sasuke scowled. "I will stand with my teammates," he said.

Kakashi stood up and towered over them sternly. "So what I am understanding is that you all want to fail together, then?"

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura nodded their heads.

Kakashi smiled. "Pass."

Sasuke and Sakura blinked in confusion.

"What do you mean we passed?" Sakura asked clearly stunned.

Kakashi's smiled deepened. "Exactly what I said, you guys are the first. Congratulations."

Sakura looked at Naruto in awe. 'He was right. His plan actually worked.'

Naruto just smiled to himself.

Sasuke frowned. "I'm lost."

Kakashi started to untie them from their posts. "Sasuke, you chose to stand beside Sakura and Naruto and fail. It was the action that caused me to pass ya'll."

Sasuke frown deepened as he failed to see where this was going.

Kakashi smiled. "The whole point of this test was teamwork. Working alone you never stood a chance, but then again even if all three of you came at me you probably wouldn't have stood a chance either."

"Then why-"

"Naruto and Sakura had the right idea. They chose to fail together than fail alone, but what really impressed me was the fact that they were looking after you in the process. A ninja must learn to see underneath the underneath, those who break the rules and code of the ninja are regarded as trash, but you know what? Those who don't take care of their comrades are lower than trash."

Sasuke's eyes widened as the pieces fell into place.

"That ends the training. Starting tomorrow Team Seven will begin its duties," Kakashi said as he gave them a cheerful thumbs up."

Sakura squealed as she started to jump up and down in delight. "Did you hear that, Sasuke? We passed!"

"Hn," Sasuke said as a small smile crossed his face.

Kakashi smiled at his students again. "You know if I didn't know any better, I would say that ya'll failed yourselves on purpose…Very clever. Who came up with that plan?"

Sakura stopped her cheering. "Oh! That would be-"

"Sakura," Naruto said cutting her off. He looked up at his Sensei as he scratched the back of his head and sheepishly grinned. "Sakura, was the one who came up with the plan. At first I thought she was crazy, but she is very persistent and convinced me to go along with it."

Sakura gazed at Naruto feeling confused.

Naruto turned his head slightly and met her gaze. 'Go with it, Sakura,' his eyes said.

"R-right. It is as Naruto said, Sensei."

Kakashi smiled as he ruffled her hair affectionalty. "Very good, Sakura. I guess Iruka was right when he said that you were intelligent.

Sakura blushed slightly at the compliment.

She looked at Naruto with a troubled expression on her face.

'Why would Naruto give me the credit for something he did?'

Naruto smiled at her as he turned around and started walking towards town.

oOoOoOoOo

Naruto stepped inside the familiar ramen shop with a grin on his face. He knew it was silly, but he just had to eat here again for old times' sake.

"Hey! Naruto, what will it be today," Teuchi said with a friendly smile on his face.

Naruto smiled. "I will have one miso ramen with pork, please."

"Coming right up."

"Naruto?"

Naruto turned around in surprise as he saw Sakura walk in. She sat down beside Naruto and placed her hands underneath her chin thoughtfully.

"Why didn't you take the credit back there? It was your plan, after all."

Naruto frowned as he stared at the bowl of soup that had just been placed in front of him. The truth is he wasn't sure why he had given Sakura the credit for his plan. A part of him thought that maybe it was because he was trying to stay under Kakashi's radar. The other part of him knew better.

He grinned at her. "I guess I was just trying to let you regain your dignity after feinting like that," he said with a chuckle.

A vein in Sakura's head twitched. "You idiot, you haven't changed at all. I knew you were just trying to annoy me," she screamed in rage as she went to hit him on the head.

Naruto dodged it with ease before he glanced at her with a smile still on his face. "Relax, Sakura," he said with a smirk on his face.

Sakura stormed out of the shop in a huff leaving Naruto chuckling in her wake.

The smile reseeded as he gazed at the chair where Sakura had just sat. Yes, a part of him definitely knew better….

**-End-**

A/N:

Alright Chapter four is complete! I hope I didn't disappoint ya'll too much. It was a difficult task to keep Naruto from showing off and giving to many long ass inspirational speeches. I tried really hard to keep him low key. I hope I succeeded somewhat.

It would seem that there is some harsh feelings about the pairing situation. Some of you guys wish this to be a naruto and sakura story, some wish for this to be pairingless, others wish to see him with someone else. I am sorry if this is an offensive subject to some :( I am only human and I make mistakes. If you want a poll just say so. I honestly have no idea how a poll works, since I am NEW to fanfics. If one of my reviewers would kindly explain how a poll works, then I will gladly do one. I apologize to the one I offended.

**REVIEW PRETTY PLEASE!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

"_Naruto!"_

_Naruto stopped in mid-sprint and whirled around towards the direction of the scream. "Th-That's Sakura's scream," he said as he started to race towards the village, thoughts of finding Sasuke pushed towards the back of his mind. Isamu followed quietly behind. He knew of this 'Sakura' but had never met her before. Isamu couldn't help but wonder what kind of scene they were about to witness._

"_Ah! Naruto, you came," Sasuke said in a mockingly happy voice as he slid into his remaining garments. His red eyes were dancing as he took in Naruto's shaking frame._

_Naruto eyes widened in disbelief as he took in the scene before him, he looked up at Sasuke in pure rage and hatred as his eyes started to turn red. "What the Hell did you DO?"_

_Sasuke shrugged as if the task meant nothing more to him than changing his shoes did. "Naruto, do you remember when we first became genin. Naruto frowned, momentarily forgetting his anger. "Kakashi asked as to introduce ourselves. Don't you remember the two things I swore to do," he said as his eyes locked onto Naruto's. _

_Naruto frowned as the memories started pouring in. "You said you were going to kill a certain someone and restore your cl-" Naruto's eyes widened as he glanced at Sakura. His eyes met Sasukes again. "You didn't."_

_Sasuke smirked at him as his eyes turned taunting._

_Naruto snarled in pure hatred as he knelt down in a feral crouch and lunged towards Sasuke's laughing throat._

Naruto gasped as he bolted upright from his sleeping position. Sweat glistened of his shaking frame as he willed his heart to slow down. He sighed as he slumped down against the tree suddenly feeling tired and glanced up at the sky. The day was drawing towards its end, he noted. He shook his head as he realized he must have fallen asleep while training again.

It had been one month since Team Seven had become official, one month of tedious D rank assignments, team drills, and friendly sparring matches. It had been in that first sparring match with Sasuke that Naruto had realized that he was no longer at the speed or strength that he had possessed as an ANBU captain. Once he had realized that he had started coming to the training grounds to try to restore what had been lost through the inconvenient time jump.

Naruto had done everything he could to try to get back to his current strength and speed faster. He had placed many weight seals on his body and trained with numerous clones daily. He was starting to see some great progress, but he was still at only half strength and his body was starting to tire out from the grueling training regime that he had been subjecting himself to in this past month.

Naruto brought his shaking hands up to his face and glared at them in horror. Weakness. As a thirty-five year old ANBU captain, Naruto had really grown to hate that word. He hated everything about it, and everyone around him knew it. Those who were weak did not belong in the shinobi world, and now Naruto had become exactly what he hated the most, a weakling. He supposed that was karma coming back to collect its due.

The thought of being exactly what he despised is what had brought on this crazy training frenzy. He did not want to be weak, not now, or ever again. It was his original weakness that had allowed Sasuke to walk free for far too long, and it was his weakness that caused everyone he had ever cared for to suffer.

Naruto sighed as he stood up and stretched languidly. His stiff muscles groaned in protest as a response as he swayed slightly.

"Naruto? Naruto!"

Naruto opened his eyes up in surprise as he felt himself fall onto Kakashi's shoulder. He up righted himself immediately feeling embarrassed by his little fainting spell.

Kakashi regarded his student's hazardous appearance with evident concern in his eye.

Naruto rolled his stiff shoulders a couple of times before he glanced up at Kakashi with a slightly sheepish look on his face. "What are you doing here, Kakashi Sensei," he asked as he tried to feign a nonchalant attitude.

Kakashi's visible eyebrow rose up slightly. "I could ask you the same thing, Naruto."

Naruto just simply shrugged in response. "Training."

Kakashi regarded his surroundings for a moment taking note of all the recent damage in the area. "Training," he said as he dragged the word out slightly. Kakashi frowned as he considered that for a moment. He had heard once from Iruka that Naruto often subjected himself to long training hours daily in hopes of getting strong enough to achieve his dreams of becoming Hokage someday. He had thought nothing of it at the time but seeing this…

Kakashi shook his head slowly and allowed a small sigh to escape his lips as he regarded Naruto again. "Naruto, I know you want to get strong enough to become Hokage someday, but it's not good to push yourself so hard…"

Naruto's face went from shocked to thoughtful in less than a few seconds as he considered Kakashi's words. He had all but forgotten about his youthful dream of becoming Hokage, and hearing Kakashi mention it now had thrown his guard off slightly. He should be thankful for that, he supposed. At least he had a well known alibi for why he trained so hard.

Kakashi watched Naruto with a seemingly impassive look on his face. "Iruka has been asking about you lately."

Naruto glanced up in surprise at the mention of his old Sensei's name.

"Apparently he hasn't seen much of you lately and was starting to grow worried about you. He told me to remind you that he still owes you a bowl of ramen."

Guilt flashed in Naruto's eyes for a brief moment before his features settled into an equally impassive look that could easily rival Kakashi's. "I see."

Kakashi closed his eye. "Well, don't stay out here too much longer. We have an early day tomorrow."

Naruto rolled his eyes in response. "Which means that we have an early day tomorrow while you make us wait on you for several hours again."

Kakashi smiled as he ruffled Naruto's hair affectionately. "I have no idea what you are talking about," he said happily before he poofed away.

oOoOoOoOoOo

"AH! Kakashi, what brings this unexpected visit," Hiruzen Sarutobi asked with a pleasant smile on his wise face.

"My team, actually," Kakashi confessed with a bit of reluctance.

The Hokage nodded thoughtfully for a moment before taking another long drag from his pipe. "Explain."

Kakashi deliberated for a second before he continued. "My team has a sort of animosity towards each other that is starting to become a bit of a problem."

A blank look crossed Sarutobi's face before he took his pipe out of his mouth and studied it thoughtfully. "According to your reports, Kakashi, they have been working well together as a team in completing their assignments. Was that not a completely accurate report?"

Kakashi scratched the back of his head. "No, my reports are quite accurate."

The Hokage frowned at this. "Then what seems to be the problem then?"

Kakashi sighed. "Although they work well together in completing their missions, it almost seems to be a means to an end, so to speak."

Sarutobi waited for Kakashi to continue with a patient look on his face.

"It almost seems to me that they are just completing the assignments well to get away from each other. Almost as if they have come to the conclusion that the quicker they finish the quicker they can leave. That is fine while they are just genin completing D rank assignments, but what happens when the missions require them to fully rely on each other. I don't want to see a repeat of my old team, but I am not sure how to get through the fact that teamwork is more than just working together, there must also be trust."

The Hokage nodded his head thoughtfully. "What would you suggest then, Kakashi?"

Kakashi paused for a moment before continuing. "I would like to request a C rank assignment for my team."

Sarutobi's eyes widened slightly with surprise. "Kakashi, you do realize that genin normally don't take C rank missions, especially rookie genin."

Kakashi nodded his head quickly. "I understand that, Lord Hokage, but I believe that a higher ranked assignment might just be the thing to get them to start trusting each other more. It does not have to be an extravagant mission, just one were trusting each other will have to take place, to an extent."

The Hokage smiled slightly as he glanced down at the assignments that were spread out before him. "I understand, Kakashi. I think I just might have the assignment for you then."

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Naruto you idiot, wake up!" Sakura screamed as she grabbed him by the scruff of his collar and started to shake him violently.

Naruto gasped as his body bolted awake; reacting purely on instinct he snarled and jumped to defend himself against his attacker. Of course, this might have actually worked if he wasn't still half asleep. With a not so graceful crash he fell backwards on his butt. Naruto blinked feeling confused as to where he was and why he was here.

Sakura scowled as she crossed her arms in front of her chest and assumed her lecture face. "Naruto, this is a result of that crazy training you insist on doing every day, isn't it. You should not be training to the point where you keep falling asleep every chance you get. It's not healthy."

Naruto just laid on the ground in a daze. 'This is one hell of a way to be woken up,' he thought to himself grumpily.

"Naruto, are you even listening to me?"

Naruto frowned as he glanced up at Sakura with a petulant look on his face.

"Naruto, you better not be trying to steal a peak from down there." Sakura said as she turned her head slightly downward in Naruto's direction just to meet a pair of wide eyes. "You look guilty." She said as her eyebrow twitched. "You stinking pervert." She yelled as she picked Naruto up from off the ground and punched him in the face.

Naruto did nothing more to defend himself, but to simply roll with the punch. 'Well, I am definitely awake now,' Naruto thought sarcastically as he picked himself up from off the ground and dusted off his clothing.

"Loser," Sasuke said with a smirk as he took in Naruto's bedraggled appearance.

"Hey guys, good morning," Kakashi said with an upraised hand as he appeared before his students in a puff of smoke.

"You're late!" Sakura screamed as she shook her fist menacingly at her teacher.

Kakashi chuckled sheepishly as he offered an explanation. "Ya, well, about that, you see I was on the way here when I saw this cat stuck up in a tre-"

"Save it," Sakura screeched as she turned her back on him with an angry huff.

Naruto sighed as he ran a hand throughout his hair in an attempt to tame it. "What are we doing today, Kakashi Sensei?"

Kakashi smiled pleasantly. "We have an assignment from the Hokage to do today."

Naruto sighed again as he wondered what fence or whose dog or what trash type of assignment they were going to get stuck with today.

oOoOoOoOoOOo

"Ah, hello Kakashi," Sarutobi said with a smile as he watched Team Seven dutifully file in. 'Hmmm, well, I can see what Kakashi meant by animosity with this bunch,' Sarutobi thought as he picked up a scroll from off of his desk. "A C rank assignment just as you requested, Kakashi" he stated as he opened up the scroll for emphasis.

"WHAT? You can't possibly be serious, Lord Hokage! They are just rookies. They aren't ready for a bigger assignment, yet," Iruka said as he rose up from his place at the desk and slammed his palms on top of it.

"Calm down, Iruka. I am certainly aware of this team's progress, but Kakashi has requested a C rank assignment and I trust his judgment," Sarutobi said with a sigh.

'Finally,' Sasuke thought to himself.

Naruto frowned. 'Surely not…'

"It's ok, Iruka. The mission is simple enough for this team to handle. It's a protection mission of a certain individual. I will introduce him to ya'll now. Hey, will you come in here."

"What's this? They're all a bunch of super brats," Tazuna stated as he leaned against the doorframe and glared at his escorts with a scowl.

Naruto paled as he stared at the old man with wide eyes. 'HOW? I didn't even whine for it this time.'

Tazuna's scowl deepened as he studied Naruto. "Are you sure this bunch will be able to protect me? That one right there looks like he is about to wet himself."

Kakashi laughed as he put a hand up behind his head. "Well, I am a jounin so there is nothing to worry about really."

Naruto shook his head as he came out of his daze, but instead of retorting to the insult like he might have done in the past, he chose to act like the professional that he was.

"I am the super expert bridge builder Tazuna. I expect you to be able to provide me with super protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge."

'Vain and demanding,' Sakura thought to herself with an annoyed look on her face.

'I guess this beats babysitting or chasing around the stupid cat," Sasuke thought with a scowl.

'If I was still an ANBU, you wouldn't dare be talking to me like that…' Naruto thought to himself grumpily. He really hated being disrespected to suck a degree. Naruto sighed as he stared at the ceiling in contemplation. 'I guess this must have always been our fate to do this mission, whether I requested it or not.'

The Hokage smiled at the disgruntled group before him. "Well, you have what you need for this mission so good luck on your first C ranked assignment."

"Hey Naruto."

Naruto turned around in surprise as he locked eyes with Iruka.

"Please be careful and remember all the things I taught you. Perhaps when you come back I can finally treat you to that ramen," Iruka said with a concerned sad look in his eyes.

Guilt flashed through Naruto's eyes as he broke the gaze with his former teacher. "Don't worry, Iruka Sensei. I will be fine, and ya I would like that. The ramen, I mean."

Iruka smiled slightly as he watched his former student leave the room with his team. 'Please don't do anything foolish, Naruto."

**-END-**

**Reviews make me happy : D**

**A/N:**

I absolutely HATED this chapter. (Runs around crying) I probably debated and rewrote it at least ten times *sighs* I couldn't decide whether or not to do the stinky wave arc, but then I thought of something I wanted to do with it so ya… Wave Arc here we come. O_o

I have considered all of ya'lls reviews and I have decided to continue writing my story the way I had originally planned it. So at the moment there will be no pairings and it will be more friendship based with maybe some flirtation on the side (hmmmmm…) I actually have this story well thought out it's just getting it out of my head and down on paper that is the problem. Ah Well! I hope you enjoyed this filler.


	6. Chapter 6

**Wave Arc: Part One **

**Lesson One: Let Go.**

To be able to lead others, a man must be willing to go forward alone. ~Harry Truman 

**Chapter Six**

Naruto stood outside the village walls with his team and stared at the sky with a sense of defeat. The smell of sake permeated the air around them causing a bead of sweat to form on Naruto's brow. Naruto's eyes wandered around the forest as he tried to take his mind off of the fact that he had been completely sober for a whole month. 'A first since I turned twenty,' Naruto grumbled to himself.

"Naruto, are you coming or what," Sakura asked when she noticed that her teammate had yet to move from his spot and join them.

Naruto's eyes immediately tore away from the foliage to regard the girl that was standing a few feet away from him.

Sakura frowned. "Hurry up, Naruto, or else I won't fix you any ramen tonight," she stated thinking that she had properly baited the blond to move. His reaction, though, surprised her. Instead of bouncing up and down and fawning over her like she had expected, he just simply remained immobile. 'Huh, that's odd. Naruto, usually always comes alive at the mention of ramen.'

Kakashi stopped in mid-stride as he glanced over his shoulder to look at his student. "Naruto, I understand that you might be nervous, but you are holding your team up by not moving."

"Huh," Naruto said as he seemingly snapped out of whatever daze he was in. "Oh, I'm sorry, Sensei," he murmured as he caught up with his team.

Kakashi stared at his student for a moment before casually shrugging and returning his attention back to the road before him.

"Naruto, are you ok," Sakura asked as she looked at her teammate with worry in her eyes.

Naruto's eyes widened as a memory from his past hit him like a lightning bolt causing a gasp to escape from his lips.

"_Naruto, are you ok," Sakura asked with obvious worry in her eyes as she knelt down beside the intoxicated blond._

_Naruto allowed his head to roll towards her general direction as he stared at her with glassy red eyes. "What are you talking about, Sakura? Of course I'm not," he grumbled._

_Sakura bit her lip as she stared at her old teammate and then at the burnt remains of the former Ichiraku Ramen this was behind him. She knew Naruto was doing it again, blaming himself for the death of Teuchi and Ayame. He had been doing it every day since their deaths for the past year._

_Sakura shook her head as she gently pried the open bottle out of his lax hands. "Naruto, I know you miss them, but this isn't healthy. You can't keep blaming yourself for everyone's death."_

_Naruto snorted. "You know I always take responsibility for my actions, Sakura," he replied bitterly._

_Sakura sighed. She knew that it was useless to argue with him once he set his mind on something, irrational or not. "They wouldn't blame you," she said softly._

_Naruto winced slightly as he dug his fingers into the dirt. "Maybe," he said. "But I made a promise to them."_

_Sakura frowned as she wondered what kind of promise he could have made._

"_I promised them on their graves that I would visit them every year on the anniversary of their death and that I would never eat ramen again," Naruto stated solemnly._

_Sakura gasped. "Naruto, what are you talking about? That is completely ridiculous. They wouldn't want that from you!"_

_Naruto stood up and stared at the burnt remains of his once favorite ramen spot. "I know that, but I feel like I can at least honor their memory by allowing their ramen to be my last." With that declaration spoken Naruto walked away leaving a very torn Sakura in his wake._

Naruto was brought out of his past by a small hand that lightly touched his shoulder. His eyes glared at the offending limb before following it up to the concerned face of one Sakura Haruno. Air dispelled from his lungs as he released a breath that he didn't even realize that he had been holding as he stared at her.

The corners of Sakura's lips turned down slightly into a frown. "Are you even paying attention to me," she asked with a pout.

Naruto chuckled shakily as he smiled at her. "Of course I am, Sakura."

Sakura cocked her head to the side slightly as she looked back at him unconvinced. "Oh, then what did I just say?"

A blank look crossed Naruto's face. "Um, you asked me if I was ok, right."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Something like that," she said with a sigh.

"I'll be fine, Sakura," he said as his eyes rested upon a puddle that was lying innocently in the middle of the road. 'There shouldn't be a puddle on the ground when there hasn't been any rain,' Naruto thought to himself with a frown.

As Team Seven walked by a strange shape started to slowly emerge from the puddle taking on the form of two men wrapped in a black cloth. Before anyone had a chance to react one of the figures somersaulted into the air and unleashed a clawed hand towards a surprised Kakashi.

Sakura screamed as she watched her Sensei get torn to shreds right before her very eyes.

"One down," one of the brothers stated coolly as they moved on towards their next victim.

"Sakura, protect Tazuna," Sasuke ordered.

"R-right," Sakura stammered as she grabbed a kunai and got into a protective stance in front of their client.

Sasuke scowled as he reached into his pockets and grabbed a handful of kunai and shuriken and threw them at the chain that connected the two of them.

"I'm stuck," the brothers cried in unison as they tried to free their arms from the chains.

Sasuke smirked as he jumped down onto their heads and rammed his hands onto their arm contraptions causing the chains attached to break.

The now free brothers smirked as they ran away from the Uchiha and made a beeline towards Naruto.

Naruto watched them move slowly towards him with a sense of apathy on his face. 'Now I remember this,' he thought as he opened up his weapon pouch to grab two kunai.

Sakura stood there trembling in front of Tazuna as she watched the two ninja charge towards Naruto. A wave of fear hit her as she watched them bring their weapons down upon him. "Sasuke, do something," she cried.

Sakura closed her eyes and screamed just as the sound of medal hitting medal echoed throughout the trees.

Tazuna placed a comforting hand upon Sakura's trembling shoulders. "Child, open your eyes and look. Your teammate is unharmed."

Sakura opened her eyes tentatively and saw that Naruto was indeed unharmed and apparently holding his own fairly well against the two ninjas. 'Is that Naruto,' she wondered to herself as she watched him move with the ease and precision of a cold killing machine. A cold shiver ran down her spine as she watched him kick one of the ninja in the face with such a force that it threw him across the clearing and into a tree.

"Brother," the other ninja cried before he returned his attention back towards Naruto. "Y-you will pay for that you little brat."

Naruto just stared at the seething ninja for a moment with a cold look on his face.

The Demon Brother of the Mist growled as he diverted his course towards Sakura and his original target. "I'm sure you won't mind if I kill her with the main target," he cried as he rushed towards her.

Sakura gasped as she watched the ninja came at her with frightening speed. "Sir, get back," she screamed as she rammed herself into Tazuna's body. Sakura's eyes widened as she saw a blur of black appear in front of her.

The other ninja's eyes widened as the face of the blond ninja appeared in front of him with eyes so filled with raw anger and bloodlust that it stopped his heart cold for a second.

Naruto's eyes narrowed dangerously as he glared at the ninja before him. "I don't think so,' he growled.

Sakura watched in awe as the ninja's eyes filled with fear right before he slumped to the ground in an unconscious heap. "Sasuke," she cheered when she saw his impassive face appear behind the unconscious man.

"Hn," he muttered just as Kakashi appeared before them with the other ninja slung over his shoulder.

"Sensei, you're alive," Sakura blurted out in relief.

Kakashi smiled behind his mask. "Sorry to worry you like that, Sakura. Anyway, I am very proud of the three of you. You handled these two very well on your own."

Sakura blushed at the compliment while Sasuke face remained indifferent although inwardly he was seething.

Kakashi's smile faded as he regarded their client. "Tazuna, I need to speak with you immediately," he said as he proceeded to tie up the two ninja to a tree.

Tazuna jumped. "What? Why?"

"These ninja look like Hidden Mist Chuunin. Those ninja are said to keep fighting no matter what."

"How did you read our movements," one of the brothers asked sullenly from the tree he was tied up to.

"On a sunny day like this when it hasn't rained, there is not going to be a puddle on the road," Kakashi said with a smile.

"If you knew that, then why did you let the brats fight?" Tazuna asked in shock.

"If I had wanted to I could have killed these two instantly, but there was something I needed to find out first. Who were these two really after?"

"What do you mean," Tazuna asked nervously.

"Meaning, were they after you or one of us. We haven't heard that there're Shinobi after you. Our mission was to simply protect you against gangs or thieves. This has now become at least a B ranked mission when this was supposed to just be a simple protection mission until you had completed the bridge."

Tazuna looked at the ground in shame.

"If it was known that ninjas were after you, this mission would have been set for a more expensive B rank. I'm sure you had your reasons, but it causes problems when you lie about a mission. We are now operating outside of our duties," Kakashi stated.

"We aren't ready for this mission. Let's quit," Sakura reasoned.

"Hmmmm… This might be too much…" Kakashi debated to himself out loud as he eyed the three of his students.

"Um, Kakashi, I have to talk to you," Tazuna said causing Kakashi to focus on him for a second. "It's about this mission. You're right; this job is most likely outside of your duties. It turns out that a super dangerous man is after my life."

"Super dangerous? Who," Kakashi asked in a bored tone of voice.

Tazuna frowned. "You've probably at least heard his name before. The wealthy shipping magnate, a man named Gatou."

Shock crossed Kakashi's face. "HUH? Gatou, from that Gatou Company? He is said to be one of the world's extremely wealthy people."

"Yes, officially he runs a large shipping company, but secretly he sells drugs and other illegal items, using ninjas and gang members to take over business and countries. He is a very nasty man. It was about a year ago when he set his eyes on Wave Country. Through money and violence, he quickly took control of the countries shipping industry. Gatou now has a monopoly on all business traffic in the country. The only thing he has to fear now is the completion of the bridge."

"I see. Since your building the bridge then you're in the way," Sakura stated observantly.

"So those ninja's were hired by Gatou," Sasuke said.

"But what I don't understand is, if you knew that you might be targeted by ninjas. Why did you hide that fact when you hired us," Kakashi asked.

"It's because the Wave Country is poor and so he couldn't afford a more expensive mission," Naruto stated causing everyone to glance at him in surprise.

Tazuna blinked in surprise. "Y-Ya that's right, even the feudal lord is poor. Well, if you quit the mission now. I will definitely be killed," he said before his face took on a chipper smile. "But, don't worry about it! If I die then my cute ten year old grandson will just cry about it for a few days. Oh yeah, and my daughter will live a sad life hating Leaf ninjas forever, but it won't be your fault, not at all."

"Well, I guess we have no choice. We will protect you at least until you get back to your village," Kakashi said with a nervous laugh.

'I win,' Tazuna thought triumphantly.

oOoOoOoOoOo

"You failed! I paid you guys a lot of money, because I heard you guys were very strong former ninjas," a stout man bellowed angrily.

Zabuza glared at the stout man with a blank face as he thumbed the hilt of his sword playfully before swinging it in Gatou's direction. "Stop your bitching. This time I will go with this head slicing cleaver and kill them."

"Are you sure? It seems the enemy has hired some skilled ninjas this time, and with the failure of the demon brothers they will be better prepared."

"Who do you think I am," Zabuza said with an insulted air. "There's a reason why I am called the Demon of the Hidden Mist, Zabuza Momochi," he stated with an eerie grin that caused Gatou to take two reflexive steps back.

oOoOoOoOoOo

"Wow! What thick mist," Sakura exclaimed.

"We should see the bridge soon," the rower told his passengers. "The Wave country is at the base of the bridge. We should be there soon."

Tazuna nodded his head slowly.

"It looks like we have avoided detection so far, but just in case, we'll take the route that has the vegetation. It will make it harder to spot us."

"Thanks," Tazuna said softly as he glanced back at the rower.

The rower nodded his head curtly as he rowed them inside of a tunnel and then dropped them off at the pier. "This is it for me. Goodbye and Good luck."

"Yeah, super thanks," Tazuna said with a huge smile before he noticed that the man was already speeding away. Tazuna sighed as he shook his head. "Alright then, get me home safely."

"Yes Yes," Kakashi said as he placed his hands inside of his pant pockets.

'If we get attacked again, it will surely not be a chuunin but a jounin level. I really hope I didn't just sign these kids death slip,' he thought to himself with a sigh as he walked down the dirt path with his team.

Naruto stopped along the path and glanced at one of the bushes with a frown before continuing on his journey.

Sakura glanced at the bush and then at Naruto nervously. "Is something wrong, Naruto?"

Naruto blinked in surprise before smiling at her. "Nothing is wrong, Sakura. Why do you ask?"

Kakashi frowned at Naruto as he wondered if the child was sensing the same thing that he was.

A tall man glanced down at the bunch with calculating eyes. 'I see. No wonder the demon brothers didn't stand a chance. If it isn't the Hidden Leaf's copy ninja, sharingan Kakashi.'

Sakura frowned, clearly not buying Naruto's innocent act. "Stop goofing around, Naruto. You're making me jumpy."

Naruto's smile faded as his eyes widened. "Sakura, get down," he screamed as he lunged himself on top of the surprised pinkette.

Kakashi reflexively jumped as well and grabbed Tazuna and Sasuke and pushed them down just as a giant sword spun over their heads and lodged itself into a tree.

Kakashi rose to one knee and stared at the man who was now standing on top of the huge sword. 'This guy is…' Kakashi's eyes narrowed as he stood up and placed himself protectively in front of his students. "Well, well, if it isn't the Hidden Mist's missing-nin, Zabuza Momochi. Everybody get back, this guy is on a whole different level. It will be a little tough unless I do this," Kakashi stated as he revealed his sharingan eye.

"Ah! I already get to see the famous sharingan. I'm honored, but sorry work is work. First I have to kill the old man, but don't worry I won't forget about you or your brats," Zabuza said with a sneer.

"Surround and protect Tazuna. Do not enter this fight. That is the teamwork here. Zabuza, fight me first," Kakashi said coldly as he held his ground in front of his students.

Naruto just stared at the back of his Sensei's head with an even colder face than his own.

**-END-**

**Don't forget to review please :D**

**A/N:**

YAY for update! LOL I really want to thank all of my reviewers so far : )

I really hope you enjoyed this chapter


	7. Chapter 7

**Wave Arc: Part Two**

**Lesson One: Let Go**

**Chapter Seven**

"Now let's end all of the talking. I have to kill that old man, but in order to do that it would seem that I have to kill you first," Zabuza stated before he kicked off from the tree and in a flash appeared on top of the water.

'He's releasing a high amount of chakra,' Kakashi noted.

"Ninpou: Hidden Mist no jutsu," Zabuza said before he disappeared.

"He'll come after me first. Zabuza Momochi is a member of the Hidden Mist, and he was known for his expertise in the silent kill. You don't even notice him until you're already dead. It's not like I can use the sharangain perfectly, so you guys need to be careful," Kakashi warned.

"The mist is getting thicker," Sakura stated.

"Eight choices: Liver, lungs, spine, clavicle, vein, neck, brain, kidneys, or heart, which one should I go after," Zabuza said with a chilling laugh.

Kakashi frowned as he brought his hands up to form a seal.

Naruto watched everything that was going on with an observant eye until his focus was broken by Sakura.

"S-sasuke, are you alright?"

Naruto frowned as he inclined his head slightly to gaze upon the trembling Uchiha.

'What an incredibly dangerous Ki. It feels like I could die if I make a single wrong move. This could drive a person crazy. The intensity of a jounin, it feels like my life is being squeezed out of me. I can't take it. I almost would rather die and get it over with.'

"Sasuke, don't worry. I'll protect you guys with my life. I don't let my comrades die," Kakashi said as he turned to look at them with a reassuring grin.

"We'll see about that," Zabuza said mockingly as he appeared right in the middle of their defense.

"I don't think so," Kakashi said as he ran into Zabuza with a kunai and jabbed it into his stomach.

Zabuza looked on in shock for a moment before his body crumpled into a puddle of water.

"Water clone," Kakashi noted right before Sakura screamed to him to look behind him.

Kakashi's eyes widened as a giant sword swung through his body, cutting him in half.

Zabuza smiled for a moment before his eyes widened in shock as he felt a kunai press up against his throat.

"Don't move, it's over," Kakashi warned.

Sakura looked on in awe as she let out a relieved chuckle right before Naruto lightly touched her arm. Sakura glanced at him questioningly.

Naruto sighed. "Don't rejoice yet, Sakura. It is far from being over."

Sakura frowned as she wondered what that was supposed to mean.

"It's over," Zabuza questioned with a laugh. "You don't get it. There's no way you can defeat me with your monkey like imitations, but that was impressive of you. When you were reassuring your students, you had already copied my water clone jutsu. It was the perfect way to distract me while the real you hid in the mist. But, I'm not that easy," Zabuza said as he appeared behind Kakashi with a kunai pressed up against his throat.

Zabuza smiled as he watched his clone dissipate and Kakashi's eyes widen in surprise.

Kakashi and Zabuza clashed weapons for a few minutes before Kakashi was kicked into the water with an incredible force.

Kakashi broke the water's surface with a gasp. 'What's this? The water is so heavy.'

"Fool," Zabuza said with a sneer as he brought his hands together to form a seal. 'Water prison no jutsu.'

Kakashi gasped as water started to swirl around him and take the shape of a spherical ball entrapping him inside.

"You may have been trying to escape from the water, but that was a big mistake. Heh, I now have you trapped in my inescapable special prison. It makes things tougher when you can move, you know. Now, Kakashi, we'll finish things after I have taken care of them," he said as he brought one hand up to form a seal. 'Water clone no jutsu.'

'He's stronger than I expected,' Kakashi thought as he watched a clone rise up out of the water and head towards the land.

"Heh, wearing forehead protectors and acting just like real ninjas, but you know what? A real ninja is someone who has survived numerous brushes with death. Basically when you're good enough to be listed in my handbook, then you can start calling yourselves ninjas, because what you are now is a joke," he said as he disappeared into the mist.

"H-he disappeared again," Sakura whispered nervously before she was kicked into a tree.

"Sakura," Sasuke and Tazuna screamed.

"Just a brat," Zabuza said with a smirk as he landed on the solid ground.

"You guys take Tazuna and run away. You guys have no chance of beating him. As long as he keeps me trapped in this prison he can't move. The water clone cannot go very far from his real body. Just run away now," Kakashi ordered.

"Ya maybe you should just run away," Zabuza mocked.

"You talk big, but I know underneath your just a big softy," a strange man said as he slowly started to appear in the mist.

Kakashi's eyes widened as he looked upon the strange man. "S-sensei?"

Zabuza frowned. "And who are you supposed to be?"

Naruto smirked as he saw Kakashi's eyes widen. He knew what he was thinking, and Naruto had to admit he did take after his old man once he had reached his twenties and especially thirties. "Hmmm good question."

Zabuza's frown deepened. "Who are you?"

Sasuke stared at the strange man incredulously. The man who now stood before him looked a lot like the legendary fourth hokage, Minato Namikaze. Sasuke shook his head as he laughed at the absurdity of such a thought. This man resembled him, yes, but there were also a few differences.

The man who stood before him now had to be at least in his mid-thirties. He wore black shinobi pants and sandals. His wore a long sleeved white shirt, and black fingerless gloves. Behind his back he wore a simple katana, and he wore his spiky blonde hair into a low ponytail. Sasuke frowned as he got a better look at this man's face and then stared at his teammate next to him.

'This guy…..looks a lot like…Naruto,' Sasuke thought.

"Are you listening to me? I said who are you," Zabuza asked with irritation laced through his words.

"My name does not matter," Naruto stated bluntly.

Zabuza chuckled. "Oh a smartass, huh, alright then blondie, you don't want a name then that is fine by me. You will be dead soon enough anyway," he screamed as he charged at the blond with katana ready in hand.

Naruto watched Zabuza move towards him with an impassive face before he brought out his own katana at the last minute and blocked the incoming attack.

Zabuza smirked. "You blocked it," he noted. "I'm impressed. There aren't many people alive who can block my swings and live to tell about it. I'm curious to see how well you can hold your own against me."

Naruto smiled. "Sorry, but you won't be conscious long enough to test me on that one."

Zabuza frowned for a moment before his body was hit with a tremendous force and then the clone melted.

The original Zabuza gasped as he watched the strange man turn around to glare at him and then… disappear? Zabuza shook his head as he glanced back at the shore in search of the strange ninja.

"You really should know better, Zabuza. I have to admit, this wasn't that much fun," Naruto stated in a bored tone of voice as he appeared behind Zabuza and pressed his katana against his throat.

Zabuza felt a chill run down his spine as he turned his head slowly and gazed into the blond's cold blue eyes.

'Was that Minato Sensei's flash technique? How? Could this man be….,' Kakashi wondered as he stared into the face of his former Sensei.

Zabuza chuckled. "I guess I owe you a little bit of respect. It's not often I am cornered like this. Hmmmmm. If I let go of sharangain Kakashi then I have two strong opponents to deal with, but if I don't let go I have a feeling you won't hesitate to kill me," Zabuza stated reflectively. "Then again I do have an ace of my sleeve…HAKU!"

Naruto laughed. "Sorry, but Haku is kind of tied up at the moment," Naruto stated with a feral grin.

Zabuza's eyes widened as he watch the little blond ninja appear on the shoreline with an unconscious Haku slung over his shoulder.

"H-how," Zabuza asked incredulously.

"Easy. I can predict the future," Naruto stated with a chilling laugh.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Naruto watched the scene on the water with a neutral face before he walked over and set the unconscious Haku against a tree. "I'm sorry, Haku, but it's better this way," Naruto whispered as he checked his bindings to make sure they were secure.

"Naruto, who is that," Sakura wondered as she knelt down beside the blond to get a better look at their captive.

"His name is Haku," Naruto stated as he finished checking his bindings and stood up to dust his pants legs off.

Sakura inspected Haku closely. "He looks like a girl," she stated after she completed her inspection of him.

Naruto chuckled as he watched the verbal fight on the water continue.

"Hey dobe, how did you find and capture him," Sasuke asked.

"I had clones surveiling the area in case he wasn't our only opponent. My clones spotted him lurking in a tree overhead, and surprised him with an ambush."

Sasuke stared at his blond teammate with a look of incredulity. 'How? How is this Naruto? He was a loser at the academy. How has he advanced this far already,' Sasuke wondered darkly.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOooo

Zabuza stared at the shoreline in annoyance. "Pftttt, useless tool," he muttered before he glanced back at the blond. "It seems that I have no choice then, but to fight the two of you. Hmmmmm, very well," he stated as he reluctantly released his hold on Kakashi.

Kakashi's eyes widened as he fell into the water. Gasping, he broke the surface and breathed in the sweet air that he had been denied for so long.

"Kakashi, we are going to have to work together to bring him down," Naruto stated as he held out his hand for Hatake to take.

Kakashi looked at the gloved hand before he traced it back up towards his Sensei's face. 'This guy.'

Naruto smiled at his former Sensei. "I have to admit, Kakashi. I always did want to fight by your side again."

Kakashi's eyes widened as he took Naruto's hand and was hoisted above the water's surface. Upon regaining his footing he turned a questioning eye towards the blonde man beside him. "So you really are Minato Sensei then."

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "I'm afraid I have only met the Yondaime Hokage once, and so I couldn't really be him, now could I."

Kakashi frowned. "Then who…?"

"Enough small talk," Zabuza bellowed. "Fight me now."

Naruto smirked as he sheathed his katana and brought his hands together to form a seal. "Alright, but we fight my way," he stated before a hundred clones appeared across the water's surface.

Zabuza stared at the mass of shadow clones with an impassive expression. "I see," he stated before he grabbed his sword and swung it like a boomerang towards a giant mass of the clones.

Naruto observed as his clones dispelled one by one before he looked at Kakashi with a smirk. "Ready for that teamwork, Kakashi?"

Kakashi looked at the replica of his former Sensei, before a smile crossed his face. "Alright."

Naruto smiled feraly. "Now that's what I am talking about," he said excitedly as he brought his hands together to form another seal.

Zabuza watched as another hundred shadow clones appeared across the water's surface. "This again. You insult me. Why don't you come at me with a different technique," he screamed as he grabbed his sword and ran through the sea of clones slashing at them barbarically.

Naruto chuckled as he flashstepped and appeared behind the surprised Zabuza before he kicked him with enough force to send him Kakashi's way. "Now why would I do that, when a few clones is all I need to take you down," Naruto mocked as he watched Kakashi activate his sharangain.

"Y-you," Zabuza growled as he regained his footing. "I refuse to be beaten by the likes of you," he screamed as he ran through a series of seals. "Water dragon blast no justu," he yelled just as a giant dragon made of water rose swiftly into the air just to be met by another.

Zabuza's eyes widened as he watched the two dragons hit each other and dispel one another. 'What the? Zabuza took a few reflexive steps backwards before he brought his hands up into another seal.

Naruto smirked as he watched Kakashi mirror all of Zabuza's movements.

'My moves…he's completely…'

"Reading them," Kakashi finished aloud much to Zabuza's surprise.

"What the? Did he read my mind? Damn that…'

"Freaky sharangain is pissing me off, right," Kakashi mocked as he mirrored Zabuza's movements again and brought his hands in front of his chest in a triangle shaped seal.

"Heh, all you are doing is copying me…."

"You can't beat me you monkey bastard," Kakashi finished much to Zabuza's annoyance and fear.

"Damn you! I'll make it to where you can never open that monkey mouth of yours ever again," he yelled before he blinked in confusion. 'What the? Is that me,' he wondered as an illusion of himself appeared behind Kakashi. 'Genjutsu?'

Kakashi ran through a number of seals. "Water explosion no jutsu," he yelled.

"What? Impossible," Zabuza screamed before he was swept away in a giant vortex of water.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Wow," Sakura exclaimed in awe. "Who knew that Kakashi Sensei was so good."

Sasuke watched the whole show with a bitter sense of annoyance. 'Damnit, event that stupid tardy jounin is good. At this rate….I'll never catch up to him!'

"Master Zabuza," Haku screamed as he watched his mater get swept under the water and thrown roughly onto the land.

"So you're awake," Naruto noted with a small hint of surprise.

Haku glanced into Naruto's eyes with quite desperation as he watched the silver haired ninja and the spiky blond ninja advance upon his defenseless master.

"Sorry, but you're not allowed to interfere this time," Naruto stated chillingly.

Naruto watched the masked ninja in front of him look upon his master in what he could only guess was anguish.

"I am nothing more than an abandoned tool if he should die," Haku stated sadly.

Naruto stared at Haku as a strange feeling welled up inside of him that he hadn't felt in a long time. 'What is this feeling?' Naruto sighed as he took his kunai and sliced through the ropes that had kept Haku bound. "Go ahead. Save him."

Haku's eyes widened in shock before a small smile crossed his face. "Thank you. I will remember your kindness," he said before he brought his hands up to form a seal and disappeared in a swirl of ice.

Naruto watched Haku go as he pondered upon the strange emotion that was welling up inside of him.

"Naruto, you idiot! Why do you let him go like that," Sasuke demanded as he grabbed the blond by his shirt and threw him up against a tree.

Naruto gazed upon the enraged Uchiha's face before he sighed. "I guess because he was never our enemy to begin with."

oOoOoOoOoOooOooo

"Now Zabuza prepare to die," Kakashi stated as he lifted his kunai up for the killing blow.

"Sensei, watch out," the older Naruto screamed as he grabbed Kakashi and threw him out of the way just before the poisonous senbon landed in his place.

"I am sorry, but my master lives today," Haku said before he grabbed Zabuza and disappeared.

Kakashi's eyes widened as he reached out to stop them "Wait," he screamed before he gasped and fell unconscious.

Naruto smiled as he laid his Sensei down upon the ground and inspected him for wounds before he glanced up at his younger counter part. 'He actually let him go,' Naruto noted as he watched the three genin come running towards them.

**-END-**

**Reviews are awesome btw :D**

**A/N:**

OK! So I am back, for the most part at least. I hope that this chapter was everything and more than you expected it to be. I also hope that I didn't confuse any of ya'll with the whole younger/older Naruto thing. There will be a more in depth explanation on this in the next chapter.

I also want to point out that yes, there will be some rehashing of the canon throughout this story with some differences here and there. Why? Because in my opinion the past wouldn't change it's course unless Naruto altered it himself. And since this is more of a Naruto character development type story and not a lets change the past for a better future type of story, there will be some canon rehashing as a result.

Anywho I hope you enjoyed it don't forget to review!

**Posted: 5-17-11**


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